Farewell, iMac... at least for now.

For those of you who have read my posts and threads that I've created, you know how much I've been in love with my new 27' i5. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to take it back today, whether I have to eat the restocking fee or not.

The short version is that, despite that it had a few minor complaints that didn't bother me so much (slight yellow tint in the bottom left corner, slight backlight bleed in the bottom right corner), my eyes just cannot adjust to the screen at all. It's a combination of the overall brightness and the size of the small fonts on such a high resolution. I had tried using Shades and Black Light to help with the brightness issue, but there was still something about it that was causing me to have horrible headaches and eye strain. Also, due to me having medium myopia, attempting to read the system fonts was causing major issues, as well. Sure, I could have just lowered the resolution to 1900x1200, but... well, to be perfectly honest, it looked pretty terrible out of its native resolution, especially due to the lack of resolution independence, and I can't justify having such a huge screen if I can't even use it.

I really do love OSX though, and that's part of the reason I'm so upset that I have to return the machine. That and I feel terrible returning a perfectly good product back to the store (and of course eating the restocking fee for the system plus the extra memory I purchased). Now I think I'm planning on purchasing a Mac Mini just to use the operating system for web surfing and e-mail, and using a PC just for gaming. And I guess I can take some solace knowing that whoever gets my iMac on refurb isn't going to get a horribly grotesque one.

Anyhow, you've been a fantastic community, and I've enjoyed hammering these forums every single day, salivating for more news and rumors on the upcoming iMac refreshes. I'm not sure how much longer I'll be sticking around these forums, so if nothing else, I wanted to thank you all for being so pleasant to discuss things with!

If you're buying another Mac at the same time as making the return, and explain your situation, it's possible a nice manager might waive the restocking fee. Anyhow, good luck on getting your next Mac, as I do understand many people have problems with such large resolutions.

This may sound facetious, but seriously you should consider consulting an ophthalmologist. If a new (or first) set of corrective lenses doesn't solve the problem, you might have some underlying eyesight disease in play. There are plenty of Mac users like myself in their fifties and beyond who can see the modern displays just fine when using the right pair of glasses.

This may sound facetious, but seriously you should consider consulting an ophthalmologist. If a new (or first) set of corrective lenses doesn't solve the problem, you might have some underlying eyesight disease in play. There are plenty of Mac users like myself in their fifties and beyond who can see the modern displays just fine when using the right pair of glasses.

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Not facetious at all - the OP needs to have his eyes checked or re-checked.

Vision changes can tend to sneak up on people, plus many times there's a reluctance to admit that you need glasses for reading/computer work.

Took me two weeks to "adapt" to the IMac27 bigger screen ... now I would never good back to smaller. You need a suitable computer desk however, with enough room to push the screen back. I think my monitor's about 28-29 inches away from the front of my desk.

Yeah, pushing the screen back is key for me too. I was able to find a sweet spot between text size concerns and being able to keep the whole monitor in at least my peripheral vision. I'd say I'm 25-30 inches away as well. Only time it's a little inconvenient is when I need to get behind the computer for the ports.

Just a quick question: will keeping the brightness setting at max harm the monitor at all? I've been using mine at maximum brightness with Shades on a bit, as it produces an amazing vibrant color that does not hurt my eyes.

I don't understand the brightness claim, you can turn the backlight down.

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Yep, you can! Odd thing is that, even at the lowest settings, it still appeared really... bright to me? It's hard to describe... it's like the monitor itself was always "burning" my eyes. The small text was more of a nuisance than anything.

The OP kept his screen at full brightness as discussed in this thread...

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Yes, that was turned down a while back to only half brightness, with shades running at about half strength, as well. Then I had to knock the brightness back even further. Kind of a shame that the screen started to cause my eyes to strain, and the headaches ensued afterward.

I did think the newer iMacs had a brightness control that went down much further than the early 2009 iMacs although maybe that was just the 21.5".

The early 2009 iMac I have doesn't go dark enough at night.

At the same time I think one can increase the font size in most everything. My eyes are older and I am now finding it much less straining and more enjoyable to increase font size on both the iMac and Windows computer I own.

That 27" screen is huge, but I'm enjoying the 24" one I just bought for my Windows machine. 2 Pages side by side is a plus and you can nearly pull that off on the 24" I have without any overlap. Works perfect on a 27".

If you game though and can do without as nice a screen and design, but still very good screen then building a pc will save you much dough especially if you wait for the right deals to come along.

I did think the newer iMacs had a brightness control that went down much further than the early 2009 iMacs although maybe that was just the 21.5".

The early 2009 iMac I have doesn't go dark enough at night.

At the same time I think one can increase the font size in most everything. My eyes are older and I am now finding it much less straining and more enjoyable to increase font size on both the iMac and Windows computer I own.

That 27" screen is huge, but I'm enjoying the 24" one I just bought for my Windows machine. 2 Pages side by side is a plus and you can nearly pull that off on the 24" I have without any overlap. Works perfect on a 27".

If you game though and can do without as nice a screen and design, but still very good screen then building a pc will save you much dough especially if you wait for the right deals to come along.

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I was so pleasantly surprised with how I was treated when I returned the iMac that in the very near future, I'm going to be purchasing two Mac Minis, one for main OSX use in the office, and another in the living room hooked up to the 46' Samsung TV. I'll still have the dedicated PC for gaming.

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